English
ptfies a great spiritual power existing from a very remote period through marvellous Yoga strength and, according to his own version, had witnessed Vasishtas born 8 times, Hiranyakshas diving with the earth down into Patala thrice, Daksha, the Prajapati losing the sacrifice twice and other mysteries. Then comes the story of Deva-Pujah. Here is stated the true ra tionale of the Pujah or worship of God now conducted by the Hindus. All the form worships are intended for the men in the lower stages alone. Brahma, Vishnu, Rudra,&c., are developed entities only. Jnana alone is the true God and the flowers, &c., with which God has to be worshipped are equal vision over all, contentment of mind, spiritual wisdom, &c. Of course this is likely to disturb the equilibrium of our orthodox men ; but facts cannot be gainsaid and should be given out. After some stories are passed, the story of Arjuna comes in where in Karmas are asked to be performed without caring for their fruits. But the best story of all in this Prakarana is the story of $ikhidwaja. Some years ago it came out in "The Theo- sophist" in a series of articles. The author impresses, through this story upon a disciple, the necessity of a Guru, an adept and not an ordinary teacher in order to lead him on into the higher pursuits of occult mysteries. Otherwise the disciple will only be, like the blind led by the blind. He is asked to place implicit faith in the words of such a Guru. The Master Jean well impress his thoughts upon the student's mind only when it is rendered passive to that of the teacher, Other wise no real progress in occultism in possible. But the Hindus of modern days have degraded it to such an extent as to exact the same kind of obedience from an ordinary student towards an ordinary teacher. Then some other points have also to be noticed in this story. True renunciation lies not in immuring one self in a closet or going to a forest but in per forming one's Karmas with a mental abnegation. One should neither court fresh Karmas nor shirk the old ones that are peculiarly his. This should be the position of a true Jnani. True renunciation or Sannyasa is finely illustrated in this story. King &ikhidwaja after leaving his kingdom, retires into the forest. There his wife, herself an adept, visits him in her Mayavi Rupa or double, assuming a male physical form and passing by the name of Kumbha-Muni. When the king found that INTRODUCTION. XXI this supposed Muni was a personage of great powers, he took him up as his Guru ; he consenting to the two conditions imposed upon him as in other cases of initiation, w'#., implicit faith in, and acting up to, the words of the Guru and repeated efforts to be made for the entire control of the mind. Then the Muni remarks that the King's pains were caused by want of true Sannydsa or renunciation in him. The King replies that he gave up his kingdom, wealth, wife, &c., and retired into the forest and wishes to know if that is not true renunciation. No, the Muni replies. Then the King gives up his love for the forest in which he is and asks if that does not constitute true renunciation. Again did the same negative word come out of the lips of the Muni. Then the King consigns the bowl, cloth, &c., which alone he has, into the fire and wishes to know if that is not Sannydsa. Again was the same ne gative reply given out. Then the King ruminates over his situation ; it is sin on his part to gainsay his Master's words and hence he dives into himself and finds that the last cum- brance in him is his body which he wants to dispose of by ascending a high cliff and precipitating it down the same, when the Muni prevents him from doing so and remarks that !true renunciation lies in the mind and not in the external things such as body, &c. Then the Muni sets the King aright by going into the origin of pains. Herein is also given out the dual nature of Manas, the mind, the pure one being purely Satwic in nature and the impure one being full of Rajas and Tamas. The author says clearly that the non-dual Reality which exists amidst the many heterogeneous things of the world can be cognized through one's self-cognition only and not by any amount of words or logic or thought. Therefore if a person as a Jivanmukta cognizes through Samadhi the absolute identity of all things, and yet moves as usual in this world, then he will in course of time reach a state called Videhamukti, when he will throw aside all shackles of bodies and merge into the Absolute fontal Bliss. As, at the end of every Prakarana in this work, there is a chapter which summarizes the subjects dealt with in it, this Prakarana closes with a chapter called Nirvana Prakarana, wherein are described the seven states of Jnana, the seven states of Ajnana having been given out in a previous chapter, INTRODUCTION. As regards the age of this work, we leave it to competent authorities to theorize as best as they may. The events re corded herein should have occurred in Tretayuga, when Rama incarnated. But in the initiation of Rama by Vasishta as re corded in this work, we find the story of Arjuna introduced herein. Is it not an anachronism, some may ask ? We shall find this objection will vanish into thin air if we bear in our mind the fact that nature is cycling round and round and is not a sealed book to our ancients. Every recurrence of the Yugas brings with it its ownVyasas,Ramas and others. There fore before the divine vision of our omniscient Rishis, all the events, past as well as future, march in one procession as recorded in the tablets of Chittragupta. This is the very objection which many Orientalists have taken without under standing exactly the views of theHindus as regards the book of nature. This reply to the objection made is one that has been urged by some of our medieval commentators. Whether Yoga-Vdsishta is considered as an authority or not, it is a matter of perfect indifference, so far as enquir ing minds who are thirsting after real knowledge are con cerned. We judge every work on its own merits and ac cording to that canon of interpretation, we leave this work to the public to be judged. There are many repetitions in this work which are inevitable in a Hindu religious book treating of the most abstruse questions of philo sophy and occultism. This work may well be given the title of an amplified " Voice of Silence," dressed in the Hindu garb. We launch out this translation of Yoga- Vasishta with the conviction that full justice has not been done to the original. It will be found that in many places in this work the translation is free and many Sanscrit words have been left untranslated. Of course in a work like this teeming with stories, a literal translation will but mar the original. There are two reasons which induced me to retain the Sanscrit words themselves in this work. Some of the terms used herein have no proper English equivalents and hence do require peri phrastic expressions to express rightly the underlying ideas. Many of the terms have become commonly known to readers of Vedantic literature- To understand this work fully, its prede- INTRODUCTION. XX111 cessor " Vasudeva-Manana or the meditations of V&sudeva' a compendium of Adwaita philosophy published by us will be of great help. One new feature of the present translation is the summary given for every chapter or story. In this effort of mine, I was greatly assisted by my late lamented co-worker R. Sundareswara Sastrial. My thanks are especially due to Mr. Bertram Keightley, M. A, the General Secretary of the Indian Section T. S. for the great help he rendered me in revising my MSS. ; as also to Messrs, N. Ramanujacharriar B. A. and B. S. Raghuthmacharriar B. A. for their kindly suggestions and aid during the progress of this work. K. N. KUMBAKONAM. YOGA-VA'SISHTA. VAIRAGGYA-PRAKARANA. (&£ > j & QALUTATIONS TO THE NON-DUAL PRINCIPLE- CD through the three organs (of mind, speech and body) — that is the eternal Jnana (wisdom) Light illuminating (the three worlds) Bhu (earth), Antariksha (intervening space) and Swarga (heaven), as also our hearts and their exteriors and that has manifested itself everywhere as visible forms.